Creating a culture of best evidence medical education in Malaysian Medical schools — ideas for action

Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) is defined as "the implementation by teachers and educational bodies in their practice, of methods and approaches to education based on the best evidence available". BEME supports the creation, dissemination and utilization of reviews and other best evidence available in topics related to medical education. The movement towards BEME — which is much desired in Malaysian medical schools — concur with calls for better accountability and quality in medical education; not just teaching based on tradition, opinion and intuition.

Description

Nation-wide culture of BEME in Malaysian medical schools best begin with strengthening medical education departments and increasing efforts towards teaching excellence in each medical school. Compulsory training in basics of medical education need be a requirement for all medical teachers. Educator tract positions need be created and of equal career advancement as investigator colleagues. Curriculum committees need to lead by utilization of BEME teaching and decision- making processes. Scholarship in teaching should be a major criterion for yearly appraisal, promotion and reflected in the academic staff reward system.

At national level, more collaborative efforts need to be taken by Malaysian medical schools. Local associations for medical teachers need to be strengthened. Addressing influential decision-makers can be more effective collectively, especially by urging for prioritizing, promoting and adequate nation-wide support for educational research. Increasing accessibility to educational journals and reviews can also be done as a team effort. Other initiatives include starting a national BEME awareness initiative, taking regional leadership in BEME as well as accessibility to international BEME networks and collaborations.

Conclusion

A BEME culture will contribute to increased collegiality, professionalism and excellence in teaching among medical teachers of this country. Scholarly approaches to teaching eventually contribute to the raised standards in medical graduates, patient care and healthcare research.